They say there is no offseason in the NFL. And that is practically true. The season is officially over in February and a month later, the new league year starts and free agency along with it. A month after that it’s the draft. Which launched right into rookie minicamp, OTA’s, and mandatory minicamp.
Right now we’re in the thick of OTA’s. And two months from now, all players will report for training camp.
As NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero noted today, the date the Raiders — along with 28 other teams — can report to training camp is July 27.
The #Cowboys and #Steelers can report as early as July 21 because of the hall of fame game. The #Bucs can report July 24 because of a Thursday opener. Players from the other 29 teams are required to report July 27, per the CBA.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 25, 2021
The unified report date is due to a new rule that says all teams (sans the two teams that play in the Hall of Fame game) will report to training camp 47 days before the season opener.
The previous rule had teams report 15 days prior to their first preseason game. That had teams reporting on different dates because there were varying dates for the start of preseason.
The question that remains for the Raiders is whether on July 27 they will be reporting to Napa CA — where the Raiders had held training camp for more than two decades — or their facility in Henderson NV — where they were forced to hold training camp last year due to the pandemic.
The NFL has opened it up for the Raiders to submit to hold training camp in Napa this year. This applies to any NFL team looking to hold training camp off-site.
Prior to the pandemic, the Raiders intended to return to Napa for camp. It is considered arguably the most primo training camp locale in football and Mark Davis is understandably not eager to give it up. However it remains to be seen if he will put in that request this year and, if he does, if the league will approve it.